[Women's Army Auxiliary Corps]

SECOND WAAC TRAINING CENTER: Dayton Beach, Florida [cover title]

[Dayton Beach, Florida: Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1942]. 15 x 11.5 cm. [14] leaves of plates, rectos only, all illustrated with photographs. Blind embossed limp brown suede wrappers stitched with red leather strip. OCLC locates single copy at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Library. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was organized in 1942. Oveta Culp Hobby was named its first director. Five training centers were opened, at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, Daytona Beach, Florida, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and Camp Ruston, Louisiana. Item #68339

The Daytona Beach center was the second facility, eventually training some 20,000 women, according to the Florida Museum of History website. The headquarters for the WAAC was the Wingate Building in downtown Daytona Beach and the recruits were housed at the Osceola Hotel and one of the local hospitals before more permanent quarters were found. The photos show the WAAC's on parade, the Color Guard, their officers at attention, training in aquatics, a convoy of Reconnaissance Cars, etc. In July 1943, the group was renamed the Women's Army Corps [WACs] recognizing its conversion from an auxiliary organization to military status as part of the Regular Army. The Daytona Beach training center was closed in early 1944 and the WACs moved to Fort Oglethorpe.

Price: $225.00